The game features 25 specific interactive locations in and around the university that unlock as you progress. Frankly, this isn't enough. Each is rather small and self-contained, which feels cozy and inviting at first, but limited and confining before long. What we're offered is great, and they're fun to explore, but by game's end you'll be sick of visiting the same places repeatedly. The really irritating part is that each different location needs to be constantly reloaded (cue tarty babe pictures for distraction). No individual load is all that long (10-15 seconds for the PC version; much longer for consoles), but they happen far too frequently. You often spend as much time waiting as you do controlling Larry just to get to your next destination.

Maybe if there was more to do at each location, this wouldn't be such a problem. As it is, we're confronted by the real problem (and point of contention for adventure gamers) with Magna Cum Laude: the activities. I can't call them puzzles, since there are none of those. In their place is a collection of mini-games. Many adventures have incorporated arcade-style challenges as a change of pace, but MCL uses them exclusively. I'm not opposed to this in principle, but the practice in this game leaves a lot to be desired.

To be fair, some of the games are rather fun at first. Most notably is the one used for important dialogues. As the conversation plays out in real time, a secondary window opens onscreen, requiring the player to guide a sperm (naturally) through a linear obstacle course. Hitting positive targets guides the talk favourably, while negative targets will cause Larry to bungle his opportunities, and still others make it harder or easier to maneuver. Many are worth failing once or twice, just to benefit from the more amusing dialogue lines the negative options trigger. Failing entails a small punishment, but nothing of any real detriment. The downside to this method is that you may end up concentrating too much on the mini-game and tuning out the spoken dialogue, so a playback option would have been highly recommended here.

I also enjoyed playing "Quarters" (bouncing coins into a glass), "Slaps" (smacking your opponent's hands), and the "Tapper" games (delivering items down 4 rows to oncoming customers). None of them required any strategy at all, however, so they'd have better served as diversions rather than central activities. And when I say I liked them, I mean I liked them the first five times I played them—not the next six gazillion times that followed. There were also less enjoyable timed delivery activities, photography assignments, and several rhythm-based button-mashing exercises. The latter had the added frustration of controlling poorly on occasion, which wasn't a reflex issue on my part, as other times they handled fine. In any case, they just weren't any fun even the first time, let alone the inordinate number of times they're required. Perhaps the truest sign that not nearly enough imagination and creativity went into the mini-game design is the fact that you can play Pong (Pong!!) for cash. Man, adventure games are passé, but Pong is okay? I'm still trying to figure out that logic.

If you find you're having particular difficulty with certain activities, you're presented with an option to make the challenge easier after a few failures. If you're still struggling after another several attempts, a "wimp out" option is available for a small price. This sort of built-in difficulty scale is a nice touch, so credit to the developers for progressive thinking here, although in the case of MCL, after a while it struck me as more of a "fast or slow drip" option of the Chinese water torture.

Even the optional activities show a lack of inspiration. Hidden throughout the campus are cash and secret tokens, but finding them is just a matter of clicking the action button everywhere the examine icon appears. This registers a "flaccid" on the ol' gamer-stimulation scale. Whatever happened to the Where's Dildo scavenger hunt of yesteryear? So no, we don't even have to be observant to succeed at Magna Cum Laude.

Thankfully, MCL sounds as good as it looks, rather than as poorly as it plays. The voice acting is top-notch, which is no small feat, as the game boasts of having over 90,000 words of spoken dialogue. The praise applies to Larry right on down to the inconsequential campus no-names, who talk amongst themselves, think aloud, or respond to Larry's pitifully cheesy pickup lines. I'd have preferred a few more of those recorded words devoted to the latter, as the responses are somewhat limited and random, and occasionally don't fit well with the particular come-on Larry uses. Still, the voice talent assembled here puts most games to shame.

Music isn't used extensively, but there's a fun selection of instrumentals scattered here and there, along with occasional tunes by artists such as Motley Crue, Right Said Fred, and Sister Sledge. Of course, those don't hold a candle to the hilarious performance of "Lesbian Nights" by the in-game cast at the gay bar, which is a decided highlight.

There are a few other nice additions in MCL, like the "black book" journal feature, plenty of in-jokes for Larry veterans, and the disguises Larry needs in order to woo those that won't associate with an ill-attired dweeb. In a better game, I'd have given these factors more prominence. Here they're an afterthought, as are various drawbacks such as the utterly useless "confidence" meter and the complete lack of paper manual. Ultimately, though, none of these things have any significant impact.

I won't bash Magna Cum Laude for not being an adventure, though the irony here is that the game most needs even a small measure of gameplay that engages the mind as well as the hands—in other words, the very thing it rejected from Larry's origins. Nevertheless, times change, and experimenting should be encouraged, even if they aren't entirely successful. Nor will I condemn the game for being borderline pornography, as it's certainly no worse than much of what Hollywood has to offer... although I wonder about the target demographic, which appears to be teenage boys—the very market unable to purchase the game because of the restrictive rating (we'll pretend there aren't a myriad of ways to get around this issue).

No, when all is said and done, I blame the game simply for failing to follow through on its own ambitions. With a solid foundation, some snappy writing, funny characters, and high production values, there was reason to believe that Magna Cum Laude could actually deliver an experience worthy of the Leisure Suit Larry name. Unfortunately, the developers managed to seriously neglect the fundamental gameplay. There's something to be said for mini-game entertainment, but not these mini-games, and not so few of them so often. The result is a reasonably fun three-hour title. Too bad the game is four times that long, padded only by tedious repetition.

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude does have some fine qualities, but not enough to redeem it. It will hold little appeal to adventure gamers, and prove nothing more than a curiosity to diehard Larry fans. Like Larry himself, it tries hard and means well, but can't seal the deal when it's time to perform. Sorry, Larry. Looks like another night alone.